Preckwinkle budget would raise cigarette, gun taxes

Preckwinkle and county commissioners also raised taxes on alcohol and loose tobacco and cigars. Those taxes, along with the doubling of vehicle stickers for cars in unincorporated areas, are expected to pour about $46.7 million into county coffers this year.

If Preckwinkle gets her latest budget proposal through, she will have overseen the passage of new and increased taxes and fees totaling $90.1 million a year. That's less than half of the $220 million that was raised in a full year by the half-penny on the dollar sales taxes she will have eliminated. The board had voted to roll back the other half of the sales tax hike before Preckwinkle took over.

To close a budget shortfall originally pegged at $268 million, Preckwinkle also is relying on approval of a federal waiver that will allow the early enrollment of 115,000 more patients in Medicaid that otherwise couldn't pay for their county health care.

She's counting on that to net $99 million for the health care system next year, saying approval from the Obama administration is expected in the next couple of weeks. Preckwinkle acknowledged that there are no contingency plans.

"If for some reason that fails, this whole thing goes south," said Commissioner Larry Suffredin, D-Evanston. He also said he's not sure Preckwinkle can muster sufficient votes to pass the guns and ammunition tax because even some Democrats oppose it.

"It only raises a million bucks," said Suffredin, a strong gun-control proponent who backs the measure. "But I think it's important to be out there discussing how (lives) are destroyed by these guns and bullets."

Gun rights groups already have spoken out against the proposal and raised the question of whether the tax would be constitutional.

Just as Preckwinkle enjoys the backing of heart, lung and respiratory associations in raising the cigarette tax, she is backed by gun-control groups on the guns and ammunition measure.

"Is this going to solve the problem? No. But it's a step in the right direction," said Colleen Daley, executive director of the Illinois Coalition Against Handgun Violence.

Preckwinkle also plans to make $50.7 million in cuts. Those include eliminating 462 jobs, all but 10 of which are now vacant, to save $27 million.

She's also continuing efforts to reduce the population at the Juvenile Temporary Detention Center, where it costs $600 a day to house and educate young people accused of crimes, by finding alternatives to get them treatment and guidance. And she's also making more efforts to reduce the jail population, where it costs $143 a day to detain inmates, by taking steps to get more people accused of nonviolent crimes released on bond while they await trial.

Preckwinkle is even taking the initial steps to lease a second set of county offices on the 34th and 35th floors of a downtown high-rise, a deal that could generate as much as $1 million annually in the coming years.

"I've got an office over on the 35th floor, some of my younger staff members say it's bigger than their first apartments," she said. "I don't need this space, and rather than just having it sit there, we're going to invest in upgrading it so it can be used by other tenants, rented out as a potential revenue opportunity for the county."